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The Israeli ambassador, Zvi Mazel (search), threw a mounted spotlight at the outdoor exhibit in Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities on Friday. He said the display legitimized genocide, and Israel has demanded that it be removed.

The artwork depicts a small ship in a rectangular pool filled with red-colored water. The ship carries a picture of Islamic Jihad bomber Hanadi Jaradat (search), who killed herself and 21 bystanders in an Oct. 4 suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel.

Sharon told a cabinet meeting Sunday he had called Mazel and thanked him "for his strength in dealing with increasing anti-Semitism, and told him that the entire government stands behind him."

"I think Ambassador Mazel behaved in an appropriate way," Sharon said. "I think the phenomenon is so serious that it would have been forbidden not to have acted on the spot."

Dror Feiler, the Israeli-born artist who created the piece, said it was supposed to call attention to how weak, lonely people can be capable of horrible things.

The museum says it has no intention of removing the piece, and officials will invite Mazel there next week for a discussion about different interpretations of art.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Sunday it would summon the Swedish ambassador in Israel to protest Feiler's piece. Mazel was also being summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm to explain his action.

So, from here we learn that Mazel "vandalized" a display by "throwing" a spotlight into "red-colored water", which had the picture of some bomber who killed herself during a suicide bombing, and apparently got some bystanders.

The slant here is definitely against the Ambassodor and the Israeli government.

Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Tzvi Mazel caused an international diplomatic incident Friday with his act of protest against an installation art piece equating an Islamist suicide bomber with her Israeli victims.

Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Tzvi Mazel caused an international diplomatic incident Friday with his act of protest against an installation art piece equating an Islamist suicide bomber with her Israeli victims. The Ambassador literally pulled the plug on the exhibit, on display at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities.

The piece, entitled "Snow White and the Madness of Truth", consisted of a pool of red liquid - to represent blood - with a miniature raft carrying a smiling headshot of the female terrorist who blew up the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on October 4, 2003, killing 21 Israelis. The fairytale-like text accompanying the display referred to the terrorist as "Snow White", "you poor child", and mourned the loss of her "innocent heart". The text concludes: "And many people are indeed crying: the Zer Aviv family, the Almog family, / and all the relatives and friends of the dead and the wounded / and the red looked beautiful upon the white."

Enraged by the artistic defamation of the Israeli victims of terror, and the whitewashing of the Islamist terrorist, Ambassador Mazel unplugged the floodlights illuminating the exhibit, letting one fall in the water. He was subsequently asked to leave the museum premises.

The Ambassador explained afterwards that he did not act until Swedish officials refused to comply with his requests to remove the exhibit. Mazel told the Swedish press, "As ambassador, I could not remain indifferent to such an obscene misrepresentation of reality."

President Moshe Katzav, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak (who appointed Mazel to his post) and other Israeli officials have expressed their unequivocal support for the Israeli Ambassador to Sweden. Prime Minister Sharon called Mazel and praised his "stand against anti-Semitism." Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi praised Mazel, saying that he should receive a special citation for his actions. Minister-Without-Portfolio Natan Sharansky stated that anyone supporting the "art" exhibit that glorified the Maxim Restaurant suicide bomber encourages and supports those who wish to eradicate the Jewish People.

Foreign Ministry officials immediately went on the offensive, attacking the Swedish government for allowing the display at an exhibit linked with a state-sponsored upcoming international conference on genocide. According to the Foreign Ministry, the display was a violation of understandings reached with the Swedes ahead of the conference. Therefore, "if it is not removed, Israel will reconsider its participation in the conference," officials said.

In contrast, Deputy Knesset Speaker Mohammed Barakeh is calling for the dismissal of Israel's Ambassador to Sweden, calling on cultural and artistic institutions in Israel to make their protests heard. He called the ambassador's actions an unacceptable act against a world renowned artist.

The artists behind the installation piece are Dror Feiler, an expatriate Israeli, and his Swedish wife, Gunilla Skold Feiler.

The Swedish government is expected to summon Ambassador Mazel on Monday for "clarifications". On Saturday, Swedish Foreign Ministry officials said they "maintain that it is unacceptable to destroy works of art in this way." The Swedish Ambassador to Israel said today that his government cannot and will not interfere in the art exhibit by asking for its removal.

Within hours of the Stockholm incident, a Hebrew-language petition in support of Ambassador Mazel was already published on-line at http://www.ezra.org.il/shagrir/. It has garnered more than 2500 signatures as of press time.

Here we see that the picture was the suicide bomber herself, the "bystanders" were her victims, and the "red colored water" was specifically there to represent Jewish blood.

I am suprised, but thankful that Arutz-7 reported on Deputy Knesset Speaker Mohammed Barakeh (an Israeli-Arab, apointed to be one (of the many) Deputy Knesset Speakers) comment, without making their own comment.

Just another reason not to believe the news. I know nothing they report on Israel is without bias, so i never really believe the "news" anywhere they report it. "News" is a myth. It was a nice idea, but like Communism, unrealistic in a human world.

Yay. Another fine example of what a difference a few omitted words can make.

Although I guess if you really delve into the Brothers Grimms version of Snow White, it is much more ambiguous than the Disney version or any other version on sale today. It's not even difficult to imagine that Snow White was a vengeful little bitch, who used all those other characters -- the hunter, the dwarves, even the prince -- to get her revenge on her stepmother, and the thing with the poisoned apple was just a minor setback.

...are all insane. Hmmm... actually that applies pretty well here in the US too.

The way I see it, there is the Israeli side of the story and the Palestinian side of the story. Both sides have glaring ommissions and embellishments in what has been a long ugly battle. Both sides have done horrible things to each other. If you have no interest in the religious side of the whole thing, it's really a bettle that can't be one because niether side is good or right. Somewhere in the middle of all of this is t

One of the best forms of public opinion shaping is to call your enemy a friend of the devil.

Or, if you happen to live in the present age, calling your enemy a terrorist (or a supporter of terrorism -- that's what an American artist who'd do something like that would probably be called) also seems to do the trick, especially if you're a friend of the US of A. As, for instance, the Chechnyan fighters (just to use a neutral word) were termed bandits by the Russian government until late 2001, but have been s

I disagree. Showing the representation of a pool of blood is represhensible. From anyone.

As for the facts on Israel/Arabs. The Israelis are in the right. They had it first, they cultivated it, they got Jews from the Arab countries to leave, they accepted the original Partition plan from the UN, they reduce the hardships for humanitarian needs, and so on.

None of those can be said about the Arabs. They were only there in small numbers, and only in a small area of Jerusalem (think Crusades). They moved in af

No one is ever completely wrong or right if you look at context. These are subjective terms that are used to define "truth" from the perspective of a person who has a particular agenda. I don't care about this particular conflict much, but what I do care about is the use of violence on both sides involved in the matter. I don't care who "started it". At this point it doesn't make much difference. I mean REALLY, are we going to be dealing with such important matters like a bunch of kindergartners? It's

That is not true. Perhaps you mean to say that people aren't completely wicked, and they have *some* real meaning. Like Castro probably believes he is giving his people freedom and paradise. He's wrong, but at least one can understand his position.

Nonetheless, Hitler, Arafat, and other wicked men do or did exist. They live by murdering others, and only have their own personal agenda in mind.